Full Bloom

A
ll things considered, Emily Ravenscroft thought, she
was taking the news of the outcome of her latest folly much better than she had the last time. She was wryly proud of herself. No tears, no rush of despair, no hysterical protests. Her assertiveness training class instructor would have been proud of her.

Emily took the news and kept on smiling.

It wasn't much of a smile, just a faint, ironic curve of her mouth, but it was enough to conceal the pain and the anger that were simmering inside.

It was also enough of a smile to thoroughly alarm three of the four people who confronted her in her father's study. She could not see what effect her smile had on the fourth person in the room. He was standing apart from the others, a dark, brooding figure concealed in shadows.

Jacob Stone was a man who was at home in shadows.

Ever since Emily had first become aware of his existence five years ago, she had understood that he prowled the fringes of her family's world. He was part bodyguard, part troubleshooter and, to Emily's way of dunking, part enforcer for Ravenscroft International. Like the last of the lobo wolves, he was rarely seen in broad daylight, let alone in the firm's executive suites or at its glittering social functions. And the only times he had been invited into her father's private study were on those occasions when Emily had needed rescuing from her latest predicament. The Ravenscrofts preferred to keep family problems quiet, and Jacob Stone could be relied on to do a job and keep family secrets to himself.

Emily had not seen Jacob Stone in nearly two years. It had been a shock to find him here at her parents' home this evening. She had assumed he was still abroad.

But it was an even bigger shock to discover that the passion she had first experienced for him five years ago had not died, after all. It had only gone dormant. Seeing Jacob again tonight had been like pouring rain and sunlight on fertile soil. Emily could literally feel the seeds of her old love sprouting again.

Don't be stupid
, she told herself fiercely.
You've got problems enough without letting yourself get sucked back into a young, immature woman's fantasy
. She was twenty-seven years old now, and she had changed.

Emily didn't waste any time trying to guess how Jacob was reacting to her unexpected calm. She knew enough about him to realize that no one would ever understand him unless he wished it, and that was highly unlikely. He was a man who operated alone, working by his own rules even when he was doing a job for his employers. Emily thought of him in the same way she thought of hurricanes, charging lions and marauding sharks. The only sensible thing to do when any of them was in the vicinity was to get out of the way.

But sometimes one could not avoid acts of nature. They descended with the inevitability of fate.

She had not had a close look at Jacob Stone since she had so innocently walked into the study twenty minutes earlier, but she remembered him well enough from two years ago when she had last seen him. He would not have changed much. Chunks of granite did not alter greatly in short spans of time. It took aeons to modify even slightly the face of a rock cliff. Jacob Stone would probably look much the same forty years from now as he had two years ago.

Without looking at him, Emily knew he would still have those cold, emotionless gray eyes and those harsh, unyielding features. He would still be wearing his tawny brown hair in a short, almost military style. His body would still be lean and hard and solid, too, Emily suspected. Stone had more than enough self-discipline to keep himself from getting soft. He would be thirty-seven by now. Tougher and more intimidating than ever.

And, she decided in a flash of affectionate amusement, he would still look vaguely uncomfortable in a suit. Jacob Stone frequently wore a suit and tie when he was working for Ravenscroft International, but he would never really look at home in the traditional businessman's outfit. Putting a suit and tie on Stone was a little like dressing up any large, wild beast. Even if the tie was silk and the suit Italian, you couldn't disguise the fact that what was underneath was still big and dangerous and had a set of teeth.

The tape in the recording machine sitting on Gifford Ravenscroft's desk hissed into silence. Emily stared at the small, sleek tape player and tried to hate Jacob Stone for what he had done this evening. He was the one who had supplied the tape to her father. It wasn't the first time Stone had stepped into her world and rearranged things with a heavy hand. She tried to tell herself that her past fantasies about him were just that: fantasies. The truth was, Jacob Stone was a very unlikable man. A hard, ruthless, unrelenting man.

"Well, Emily," Gifford said quietly, "you've managed to get yourself into trouble again. Do you understand now why I asked you to come here today?"

Emily forced herself to take three deep breaths before she answered. The first rule of assertiveness was to stay calm and in control. Then she arched her eyebrows above the frames of her round glasses and scanned the concerned faces of her mother, Catherine, and her older brother, Drake, before she met her father's stern gaze. She ignored Stone, who had still not moved in the shadows.

"Let me guess," she said with artificial lightness. "You didn't invite me here to discuss the loan I've requested, right?"

"Emily!" Catherine stared at her daughter, appalled. "What's the matter with you? This is a very serious situation. According to this tape you are about to announce your engagement to a man who plans to use you to take control of Ravenscroft International. Your father has outlined the evidence Jacob has gathered for us. This is not a joking matter. You must put an end to your relationship with Damon Morrell immediately."

Emily gritted her teeth and kept her faint smile in place. She looked at her mother. Catherine Ravenscroft was nearing sixty, but she was still a striking woman who managed to look at least fifteen years younger than her age. Although she was a Ravenscroft by marriage, not by blood, she had the family coloring. Her smoothly coiffed hair had once been jet black. Now it was artfully streaked with silver.

Catherine had brown eyes, too, which, if not exactly the true amber of a Ravenscroft's gaze, were close enough to fool most observers. Altogether she fitted in very well with the others. Her family had lost its considerable fortune somewhere along the way years ago, but along with her striking features, Catherine had also brought a good old-stock pedigree into the family. She was very conscious of her background and rigidly determined that Emily, her unexpected late-in-life daughter, make a marriage that suited what she saw as Emily's position in the world.

Tonight Emily's mother was dressed with her usual elegantly casual flair in a pair of khaki silk pants and a cream-colored blouse. There was a delicate rope of gold and diamonds around her throat.

Emily struggled to recall the techniques she had learned in her assertiveness training class.
Do not argue. Do not provide a target that can be attacked
.

"You and Dad and Drake have all gone to a great deal of effort, and I assure you I'm quite impressed." Emily transferred her smile to her black-haired older brother and then to her father. "It's obvious you all put in a lot of time on this project, and I'm quite flattered that you once again felt it necessary to call in Mr. Stone to do the dirty work. I realize his time is quite expensive. But then, I suspect he enjoys this sort of job."

There was a soft gasp of annoyance from Catherine Ravenscroft, and Drake's
amber eyes flickered assessingly. Stone himself did not bother to react to the insult. But Gifford Ravenscroft glared at his daughter. It was obvious he was angry, but it was equally clear he was somewhat perplexed. He had not been prepared for this cool flippancy from the daughter he had always thought of as naive and emotional.

"Your mother is right, Emily. This is no time for jokes or insults. Your relationship with Morrell must be terminated immediately. The man is not interested in you. That tape and the accompanying evidence demonstrate that beyond a shadow of a doubt. His only interest is in taking control of Ravenscroft International or crippling the firm. He plans to do that by marrying you. Why Mother took it into her head on her deathbed to leave you enough shares to ensure you a seat on RI's board of directors will always be a mystery to me."

"She must have been out of her mind," Catherine said with a sigh. "But she always was a bit strange, what with her unbusinesslike ideas about how to run things."

"Calm down, Dad," Emily said, deliberately trying for a tone of careless amusement. Her grandmother had died almost two years ago, shortly after Jacob Stone had left for a foreign office of RI. It had been a turning point in Emily's life. Her grandmother was the only Ravenscroft Emily felt had ever really understood her. She had loved the old woman. "I've always let you and Drake and Mother control my vote, haven't I? I've never tried to interfere with the running of the firm. I don't even take any income from the shares Grandmother left me. I let the money be reinvested in the firm, just as Grandmother stated in her will. Nothing would change even if I did decide to marry Damon."

She couldn't resist the taunt, and the startled faces of her family was more than enough of a reaction to satisfy her. Until recently Emily had always bowed to the wishes of the family. The truth was, she had never intended to marry Damon, but she was not about to let the rest of her family know that tonight. Emily was surrounded, and she did not intend to give up what little ammunition she had. Let the others sweat a bit. It would do them good.

It was Drake who responded first. He was a striking man with black hair and the Ravenscroft eyes. He was ten years older than his sister and knew her better than her parents ever would. He was the chief executive officer of RI, the man responsible for day-to-day operations, but he did not perform his duties in isolation. Gifford Ravenscroft still took a very active interest in the running of the family business, as did Catherine. Privately Emily considered her brother something of a genius as well as a diplomat, to be able to hold the reins of power and placate his parents at the same time. The fact that he was here at their parents' home this evening was ample proof that he considered the situation as serious as they did.

Drake leaned back in his chair, his hands folded under his strong chin as he studied Emily. "Don't be deliberately naive, Em. You pay very little attention to the daily business of the company, but that doesn't mean Morrell would be just as uninterested. We know for a fact he's very interested. It wouldn't take much for him to throw a monkey wrench into things by using you. He could destroy this company. You'd probably start voting the way he wanted you to vote, believing he loved you and only had your best interests at heart."

"And I assure you," Gifford continued ominously, "that Morrell would use you to cause as much disruption as possible for all of us. He has a vendetta against Ravenscroft International. He would do anything he could to destroy us."

"Why?" Emily could not resist asking. She felt like a flower being hammered beneath a driving rain. Her family was united in the effort to bring her to heel.

All the while Jacob Stone stood in the shadows near the window, witnessing the unequal battle. He was just the soldier who had completed his assigned mission. It was up to the Ravenscrofts to bring Emily into line.

"There's no point in going into the whole tale tonight," Gifford snapped. "It
has to do with an incident that took place a couple of years ago. A business matter, pure and simple. Suffice it to say that RI submitted the winning bid and Morrell's firm lost out. Morrell swore he'd get even. We're going up against him again right now. We're competing with him on the Fowler project. He'd like very much to get rid of the competition and take his revenge against us at the same time. Destroying RI from within is his idea of vengeance. He's using you, Emily. Don't you understand?"

Emily forced her smile up another notch in brilliance. "Have you considered that you may have that backward?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Drake demanded coolly.

"Maybe I'm using Damon." Emily smoothed the skirt of her yellow knit dress. "He's a very interesting man, you know. Handsome, successful, attentive. An excellent conversationalist. What's more, he says he likes flowers."

Catherine frowned severely as she always did at the mention of flowers. She had never accepted the fact that her daughter owned a florist's shop. "You're being deliberately difficult tonight. Why, Emily? You've heard the evidence Jacob collected. How can you sit there and act like this?"

"Would you prefer that I break down in tears the way I did two years ago when you decided to get rid of my first
fiancé?" Emily asked.

"Emily, no one wants you in tears," Catherine said impatiently. "Why must you always assume we're deliberately picking on you when all we really want is what's best for you? We want you to understand what's going on here. Jacob has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Morrell is not interested in you. He's only interested in Ravenscroft International. You can't deny the evidence you've heard tonight."

For the first time Emily allowed her gaze to move into the shadows. She met Jacob Stone's eyes. "Tapes can be faked. Everyone knows that. Why should I believe the one Mr. Stone has put together?"

Drake stirred abruptly. Obviously no one had expected her to question the evidence. "You know better than that, Emily. Jacob wouldn't have faked that tape."

Emily looked at her brother, the anger within her simmering to the surface for the first time. "Jacob Stone would do anything you or Father told him to do. He works for you. Yes, I realize he carries a fancy title. Vice president in charge of overseas operations or some such thing, but we all know the truth, don't we? He's nothing more than your paid enforcer. He's a professional intimidator. Why should I believe anything he put together for this little confrontation?"

No one in the room seemed to know how to react to the savage insult. Emily tried to take some satisfaction from that small victory. It was not often she was able to score even a tiny win from her family. She did not dare look back at Jacob to see how he had responded.